The Low end Abel's are not worth the money in my opinion...The Galvan Openback is an awesome reel, and I would deffinitly look at the Galvan company.

If you are going to use this reel for something other than trout, you might want to look at the Galvan Torque(the drag system is unbelievable). Very light and smooth reel.

Best of Luck....and? what happened to hardy reels...arent they made in England??

Hardy has moved all of their manufacturing to S Korea (I believe-I no longer rep them). The only exceptions are limited editions and Bamboo rods coming out of Alnwick. This season it is the Perfect limiteds starting at 850$. I still disagree with you on the Abels. I realize some prefer a drag, but once you learn to control a click and pawl IMO it is superior for just about any kind of Trout fishing. And the fit and finnish on the Abels (across the board) are as fine as any reel on the market. If you start comparing the prices of Abels to used made in England Hardys they seem like a very good value. Their is nothing wrong with the Galvans. But If I wasn't married to thirty year old Hardys, I'd be fishing either Abel Creeks, TR's or if I had the money some of the limited production American made trout reels like Peerless or Sarconine.